Weeks out for the season; Hurricane's a-comin'

[Invader3K]

Someone on the JSOnline blog noted Irabarren is not in the Sounds' lineup tonight. Might mean nothing, but you never know.

[hawing]

Burgleflickle.

 

My tiny, wafer-thin silver lining is that at least the surgery's being done very soon - rather than it being one of those "let's give it 4-6 weeks to see if it heals on its own" things, which (for Brewers, at least) tends to result in little more than an additional 4-6 week delay.

 

I doubt you're reading, Rickie, but we'll be ready to cheer you on whenever you're able to return. Stay strong!

[LaprilOne]

Sparky at WSSP has been literally foaming at the mouth that Rickie is a loser, has been a bust for four years, and that his great start is meaningless. His conclusion: no loss to the Brewers, he would have soon tanked.

 

Honestly, his voice was up two octaves (from squeaky to shrill) as he ranted and slobbered his words.

 

What a complete tool.

[SoCal Brew Crew Fan]

Weeks has been one of the better defenders YTD. According to Fangraphs, he's #2 in UZR among 2B. That may not have been sustainable, but it's a big blow to what has been a very good defensive team so far this year.

[rm121978]

Then there's the financial side, the team is already in the neighborhood of being maxed out payroll wise, acquiring Roberts would likely push the team into the red

The value of this franchise has increased so much since Mark A. bought the team - he could easily afford to be a little in the red on a year-to-year basis and still come out way ahead when he cashes in. Of course he's still not going to let Doug spend the $.

 

This whole thing is just a bummer. I'm putting full blame on the Happy Youngster for his bad juju.

[TheCrew07]

I like Hawing's point as well, there was no drag out diagnosis here, it's being handled the way injuries should be... Definitive diagnosis and treatment from the get go, so while I've been very critical of injury treatment in the past, I owe it to the club to praise them when they get it right.

 

Well done training staff, and once again have a speedy recovery Rickie!

[Invader3K]

Sparky at WSSP has been literally foaming at the mouth that Rickie is a loser, has been a bust for four years, and that his great start is meaningless. His conclusion: no loss to the Brewers, he would have soon tanked.

 

Honestly, his voice was up two octaves (from squeaky to shrill) as he ranted and slobbered his words.

 

What a complete tool.

 

Yeah, I really can't stand Sparky too much. Just seems to take the controversial opinion just to be different all the time.

[SoCal Brew Crew Fan]

Another thought they'll likely never seriously entertain is a defense/offense platoon arrangement of sorts where Gamel plays behind the high K and/or flyballish pitchers (Gallardo, Parra, and Bush) and CounsHall or maybe eventually Escobar plays behind the low K / high GB guys (Looper and Suppan, maybe sometimes Parra if the opposition tends to put the ball in play a lot).

 

Probably right that they wouldn't consider it, but that's a very intriguing thought.

[MickeyDavis]

If this was the Bucks medical staff, first Rickie would be day to day, then put on the 15 day disabled list, then we would be told he'd be back for the playoff run in September and in October he would finally have the surgery that would cause him to miss all of 2010.

[Weirdos19]

I like the Gamel idea. I also like the idea of signing Grudzielanek and playing him and Hall versus lefties.

[TooLiveBrew]

Just fwiw, fondybrewfan started a timely thread in the Transactions forum to discuss options for replacing Weeks this season.

 

Link

[saget]

I am inspired to write a Rickie Weeks haiku

 

Rickie, you are missed

We waited for potential

Brewer nation weeps

[pretendastronaut]

Man, what a heart breaker, I was really proud of Rickie.

 

The last two Mays have not been kind to us on the injury front.

[hawing]

Sparky at WSSP has been literally foaming at the mouth that Rickie is a loser, has been a bust for four years, and that his great start is meaningless. His conclusion: no loss to the Brewers, he would have soon tanked.

 

Honestly, his voice was up two octaves (from squeaky to shrill) as he ranted and slobbered his words.

 

What a complete tool.

This is pretty much why I don't listen to WSSP's post-game show. That, and polkas on WTKM are the happiest music on earth.

[Tbadder]

Well, I just puked. This sucks for Rickie and the Crew. I'd rather have Hurricane come up and start against righties with Craig subbing for Hall. Right now that combo is doing too well to mess with. If he failed I'd try Casey. After giving each of these guys 20 to 30 games I'd go to Escobar if both couldn't handle it.

 

I never thought the Crew was a playoff team this year, so I don't want Melvin to overreact and trade. Sit tight, if the starters hold up, and the Cubs struggle, maybe I make a trade later in the season. But for now lets keep it on the down-low.

[brewerjamie15]

Don't forget that if Hall gets moved to second base, there's no way to hide him vs. righties.

 

Can someone please inform me as to which site I can access to cross reference Weeks compared to other second basemen bot on O and D? (besides MLB site)

[JJHardy7]

I sure hope JJHardy7 is right about his progress.

 

He's made progress. I don't know if this is ideal now, but it's the best option. I still think it was dumb to call him up and sit him on the bench. That move made zero sense and still doesn't. Weeks injury is further proof of that. I know you can't predict injuries, but if the Brewers don't call up Gamel/designate Nelson...we'd have Weeks on the DL and Gamel getting called up...and still have Nelson. Melvin said it himself a week or so back...'you never know how the roster will look a week from now'. A week later we lose Nelson, have Mat sitting on the bench doing nothing, and lose Weeks for the year. Not exactly how Mat expected to be given the job I'm sure, but might as well make a go of it.

 

The only other thing I want to say with Mat is that Brewer fans need to be patient with the guy. If he makes a few errors in the next few weeks, let's not boo. That to me would be a sad state of Brewers 'fans'. I know many here wouldn't boo, but I question others.

 

I didn't do a Congrats to Mat when he called up since I thought it was a dumb move and he really wasn't 'up' to stay. Now if he hits well I think he's up in Milwaukee to stay. Congrats Mat!

 

I also think this could be the end of the Weeks experiment or at least the end of letting him figure it out. It's not his fault or anything, but there comes a point and time were Lawrie will be replacing Rickie. I think Rickie has a job in Milwaukee one more year and after that he'll be gone. This injury is not going to be easy to come back and we've seen how hard it is to come back in the past with him. I'm wishing him the best. I just hope he's somehow able to rebound next year. It's going to be tough.

[endaround]

Lawrie is unlikely to be ready to start in 2011. Again the idea that Weeks being average at 2B was this huge yoke for the Brewers to carry for a few years makes little sense.

[steve267268]

If Hall gets moved to second base, why can't Counsell sub for him against righties? Gamel can play third in those situations which actually makes sense.

[brewerjamie15]

From what I've seen so far, Weeks was indeed having a break out season. He improved largely on defense, and made big strides on offense as well.

That in mind, I wanted to check on where he is amongst other offensive players:

 

Can I also find out somehow where he ranks amongst other leadoff hitters in the NL?

[Brawndo the Thirst Mutilat]

Don't forget that if Hall gets moved to second base, there's no way to hide him vs. righties.

 

Can someone please inform me as to which site I can access to cross reference Weeks compared to other second basemen bot on O and D? (besides MLB site)

Fangraphs is the best site on the net for recent statistical info. Here's a link to their page of 2009 2B overall WAR leaders. The tabs at the top let you pull up different positions, years, and also the more familiar traditional stats.

[yount19.u]

Weeks is jinxed. His injuries only seem to pop up when he's raking and looking like he's finally putting it all together. Then when he gets stuck in a horrible slump and could use some recovery time in AAA, he's perfectly healthy. I hope this does not affect his mental approach to the game as he really seemed to turn a corner this year. On the bright side it does mean that Gamel is likely up for good, and this injury should be easier to overcome than Yo's injury last year.

[logan82]

This sucks. Weeks has been my favorite Brewer for quite a while now.

 

Against RHP

Hart

Gamel

Braun

Fielder

Cameron

Counsel

Hardy

Kendall

Pitcher

 

Against LHP

Hart

Hardy

Braun

Fielder

Cameron

Hall

Gamel

Kendall

Pitcher

 

Gamel doesn't have bad splits against LHP, but all of our starters outside of Fielder have really good splits vs LHP. Hopefully they go with a Hall/Counsel platoon at 2B and Gamel full time at 3B.

 

Keep in mind that Counsell is still playing through a sore knee. We don't want to play him much or he is likely to break down.

 

I thought this was the type of scenario that we were working out Escobar at 2B for during spring training.

 

If this is the same injury he had on his other wrist we should probably expect him to get off to a slow start next year. Hopefully whoever our manager and GM are, they will have patience next year with Weeks.

[PrinceEatMeat]

Vs. RHP

 

Counsell

Hardy

Braun

Fielder

Cameron

Hart

Gamel

Kendall

Pitcher

 

Vs. LHP

 

Hart

Hardy

Braun

Fielder

Cameron

Hall

Gamel

Kendall

Pitcher

 

That's what it will look like.

[brewerjamie15]

I say Hall won't be hidden against righties because it seems best to have Councell spell 3rd base.